California Biographies

Source:
History of Napa and Lake Counties
San Francisco, Slocum, Bowen & Co., Publishers. 1881

Transcribed by Peggy Hooper 2011

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives 
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


CHARLES KRUG.  The subject of this sketch, whose portrait appears in the body of this work, was born 
in Trendelburg, near Cassel, Prussia, Germany, March 1, 1825, and is the only son of Caspar and Marie 
Steitz Krug. He resided at his birthplace until he was fourteen years of age, when he went to a Latin 
school in Hersfeld, and remained there for a term of six years, completing the fall course of the school. 
He then went to the University at Marburg, which he attended for two years. In the summer of 1847 
he came to America and located in Philadelphia, where he was engaged as a teacher in the Free 
Thinkers' School of August Glaser, until May, 1848. At this time, called by the outbreak of the 
Revolution in France, and afterwards over all Continental Europe, he returned to the " Fatherland," 
and began writing revolutionary articles for the press, and agitating the project of republicanizing 
Germany. He resided at Frankfort-on-the-Main, at that time the seat of the first German Parliament 
On the 18th of September of that year he was engaged in a revolutionary attempt to overthrow the 
then reactionary Parliament, and to create a central revolutionary government for all Germany; but 
the attempt failed, and he was imprisoned for nine months, till the new outbreak of the Revolution in 
Baden and Rheinphalz, in 1849, opened for him and about one hundred other enthusiasts the doors of 
their prison. In 1851 he returned to Philadelphia, and remained there until Jacob Hahnlein engaged his 
services as editor of the Staats Zeitung, the first German paper ever published on the Pacific Coast. He 
came to California via the Isthmus route, and arrived in San Francisco June 14, 1852. He remained 
engaged in that business until 1854, when, in the early part of the year, he proceeded to Crystal 
Springs, San Mateo County, and located on a Government claim, which was near where Colonel A. 
Haraszthy had a farm. The first work performed on this place was the making of a road, which was the 
first manual labor performed in his life. There was quite a colony of Hungarians in that vicinity. Mr. 
Krug erected a log house, and attempted to become a practical farmer, but only remained there about 
eight months, when he returned to San Francisco, and entered a private, gold refining establishment 
for a short time. In 1856 he was appointed clerk of the refining department of the United States Mint, 
where he remained till Colonel A. Haraszthy, with Count Wass and W. Molitor, opened the gold and 
silver refinery on Brannan street. In January, 1858, he went to Sonoma and purchased a place from 
Colonel Haraszthy, and planted twenty acres of vines upon the tract inside of the next three years. In 
the fall of 1860 he disposed of his place in Sonoma, now the property of Messrs. Heller Brothers. 
December 26, 1860, he was united in marriage with Miss Caroline, daughter of Dr. E. T. Bale, of Napa 
Valley, and immediately located upon his present place. In 1858, during his residence at Sonoma, John 
Patchett, who lived near Napa City, while on a visit to Sonoma, stated to Mr. Krug that he had a fine 
crop of grapes on his place, and was desirous of having them made into wine. Mr. Krug accepted a 
proposition, and came to the place with a small cider press, and began operations. He made about 
twelve hundred gallons of wine for Mr. Patchett, which was the first wine ever made in Napa County 
by other than the old Spanish process, which is fully described in the body of this work. Hence to Mr. 
Charles Krug belongs the honor of making the first wine in Napa County, and of being the pioneer of 
an industry that was subsequently to be of all-absorbing interest over the entire county. In 1859 Mr. 
Krug manufactured wine for Mr. Louis Bruch, on the Bale Mill place, where Mr. W. W. Lyman now 
resides. In 1860 he made wine on the shares on Mr. George C. Yount's farm, making that year about 
five thousand gallons. The now prominent Henry Edgerton used to visit Yount's farm for recreation, 
and for exercise would sometimes turn the crank of the crusher, which was roughly constructed by a 
friend of Mr. Krug's, Mr. Conrad Tempel, now a hardware dealer in Petaluma In 1861 Mr. Krug made 
the first wine on his present place. The quantity made was about one hundred gallons, and the grapes 
were procured from his neighbors and from Knights Valley. In the spring of 1861 he planted about 
twenty acres of rooted Mission vines. This was the second vineyard in the St. Helena District planted 
for the purpose of making the grapes into wine, Dr. G. B. Crane having preceded him two years. In the 
following years he purchased grapes in the neighborhood, the principal growers being David Hudson, 
John York, Dr. Bale's Mill and homestead places, Owsley, J. Tucker and others. At the present time he 
has one hundred and fifty-three acres of vines, one hundred and twenty-five if which are bearing. He 
has steadily increased his business from the few hundred gallons of 1861 to the three hundred and 
twenty thousand gallons of 1880. The rude and small cellar has given way to a most commodious and 
magnificent structure, a full description of which will be found in its proper place. It has not always 
been sunshine with this pioneer of winemakers. His has been a long and arduous struggle against an 
ebb tide to bring California wines up to their present status. Reverses of fortune have borne hardly 
upon him also, chief of which was the destruction of his cellar and its contents, in 1874, by fire. No man 
but a Krug, or a man possessed with his iron will and indomitable energy, would have passed through 
these reverses safely. But now he stands out in the effulgent light of achieved success. Today he is at 
the head of the greatest industry of California, and his vineyard is located in the very heart of the 
wine-producing section to which the eyes of the world are turned, and to which the markets of the 
world must look for future supplies of this great product. He takes a most active part in the 
advancement and furtherance of his favorite industry, being at the present time a member of the 
Board of the State Viticultural Commissioners, president of the Viticultural Association of the St. 
Helena District, and a prominent promoter of the buildings of the association in St. Helena. Mr. Krug 
has one of the loveliest places in the beautiful Napa Valley, and his hospitality is proverbial far and 
near. To meet him is to pass into an atmosphere of genial good fellowship which makes one feel 
better for the meeting. Such a man well deserves the grand success which he has achieved, and well 
merits the proud position which he now holds, both at the head of his favorite industry and in the 
hearts of his friends and neighbors. We must not omit to state that he took a very lively interest and 
active part in the new-Constitution movement a few years ago. He was a delegate to the State 
Convention of that party, and was nominated by the State Convention of the Workingmen's party for 
State Treasurer, which, owing to the pressure of his private business, he was compelled to decline. As 
stated above, he was united in marriage with a daughter of that old pioneer, Dr. E. T. Bale, and by this 
union they have had five children, as follows: Linda, born October 15, 1861; Charles, born December 9, 
1865, and died May 13, 1866; Anita, born March 18, 1868; Lolita, born June 16, 1870, and Karl, born 
December 28, 1875.